Reincarnation

[bcullum]

I was given a couple books from a neighbor who want’s my opinion on them. Both books are ref reincarnation and I was interested if anybody knows some good catholic book review sites which may shed some light on these. They are both pretty short however, would like to get a Catholic perspective before dive into them.

1st book, Reincarnation: Claiming your past, creating your future by Lynn Sparrow

2nd book, Life Before Life, A Scientific investigation of Children’s memories of previous lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D.

I view this as an opportunity to open up a dialog and evangelization. I have provided a couple books and ref ie…CS Lewis Mere Christianity along with the link to Catholic answers and new advent web site.

I believe he is Catholic who is interested understanding the Churches stance on reincarnation and would like to provide him a good foundation to refute this belief so many in our society have then drawn into. Any help in defending the churches stance is appreciated.

God bless and pls pray for me.

 

[1ke]

I doubt you are going to find a Catholic book review site with reviews of these books. They are not Catholic books and they do not contain Catholic teaching.

Reincarnation is incomaptible with the Catholic Faith.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment

From the Catechism:

1022 Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately,—or immediate and everlasting damnation.

 

[thistle]

I agree with 1ke and further to what 1ke posted, also in the CCC:

CCC 1013 Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When “the single course of our earthly life” is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: “It is appointed for men to die once.” There is no “reincarnation” after death.

 

[PhilVaz]

<< They are both pretty short however, would like to get a Catholic perspective before dive into them. 1st book, Reincarnation: Claiming your past, creating your future by Lynn Sparrow; 2nd book, Life Before Life, A Scientific investigation of Children’s memories of previous lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D. >>

I have a couple books on reincarnation, most of them deal with anecdotal evidence and “techniques” that claim to help us “remember” our past lives. There are also some interesting cases: Could a Little Boy be Proof of Reincarnation? (on the WWII fighter pilot James Huston Jr).

One main problem I always bring up is mathematical. The population of human beings is always increasing, today it is over 6 billion. If each person TODAY was reincarnated in the PAST, then you run out of bodies. There’s too many souls today for each one to be reincarnated. I don’t know of a decent answer to that, unless you combine with other planets and aliens whose population is decreasing, or some people had several souls in the past, like the Irish :shamrock2:

“In the last few centuries, the number of people living on Earth has increased many times over. By the year 2000, there were 10 times as many people on Earth than there were 300 years ago.” (Wikipedia on World population)

2011 = 7 billion souls (estimated)
1999 = 6 billion souls
1927 = 2 billion souls
1804 = 1 billion souls

Only 1/3 of the people living today could have lived on or before 1927. Only 1/6 on or before 1804, etc.

Phil P

 

[Catholic_Dude]

<< They are both pretty short however, would like to get a Catholic perspective before dive into them. 1st book, Reincarnation: Claiming your past, creating your future by Lynn Sparrow; 2nd book, Life Before Life, A Scientific investigation of Children’s memories of previous lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D. >>

I have a couple books on reincarnation, most of them deal with anecdotal evidence and “techniques” that claim to help us “remember” our past lives. There are also some interesting cases: Could a Little Boy be Proof of Reincarnation? (on the WWII fighter pilot James Huston Jr).

One main problem I always bring up is mathematical. The population of human beings is always increasing, today it is over 6 billion. If each person TODAY was reincarnated in the PAST, then you run out of bodies. There’s too many souls today for each one to be reincarnated. I don’t know of a decent answer to that, unless you combine with other planets and aliens whose population is decreasing, or some people had several souls in the past, like the Irish :shamrock2:

“In the last few centuries, the number of people living on Earth has increased many times over. By the year 2000, there were 10 times as many people on Earth than there were 300 years ago.” (Wikipedia on World population)

2011 = 7 billion souls (estimated)
1999 = 6 billion souls
1927 = 2 billion souls
1804 = 1 billion souls

Only 1/3 of the people living today could have lived on or before 1927. Only 1/6 on or before 1804, etc.

Phil P

That is VERY interesting! Reincarnation cant explain why population is growing.

What is most disturbing to me about reincarnation is that you dont know anything about your past life, thus you didnt “learn your lesson” nor are you aware of your “progress”.

 

[ERose]

<< They are both pretty short however, would like to get a Catholic perspective before dive into them. 1st book, Reincarnation: Claiming your past, creating your future by Lynn Sparrow; 2nd book, Life Before Life, A Scientific investigation of Children’s memories of previous lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D. >>

I have a couple books on reincarnation, most of them deal with anecdotal evidence and “techniques” that claim to help us “remember” our past lives. There are also some interesting cases: Could a Little Boy be Proof of Reincarnation? (on the WWII fighter pilot James Huston Jr).

One main problem I always bring up is mathematical. The population of human beings is always increasing, today it is over 6 billion. If each person TODAY was reincarnated in the PAST, then you run out of bodies. There’s too many souls today for each one to be reincarnated. I don’t know of a decent answer to that, unless you combine with other planets and aliens whose population is decreasing, or some people had several souls in the past, like the Irish :shamrock2:

“In the last few centuries, the number of people living on Earth has increased many times over. By the year 2000, there were 10 times as many people on Earth than there were 300 years ago.” (Wikipedia on World population)

2011 = 7 billion souls (estimated)
1999 = 6 billion souls
1927 = 2 billion souls
1804 = 1 billion souls

Only 1/3 of the people living today could have lived on or before 1927. Only 1/6 on or before 1804, etc.

Phil P

Phil,

A real good answer. Never thought of that before. Thanks.

 

[Joe_5859]

Catholic Answers has a tract on Reincarnation.

Here are some other articles that might be helpful:

• Come Again? by Mike Aquilina
• Reincarnation and the Bible by Mark Brumley
• Reincarnation Western-Style: The Resurgence of Age-old Superstition in a Scientific Era by Marie I. George
• Resurrection and Reincarnation by Fr. Michael Hull

 

[gcnuss]

For a less serious look at reincarnation, try this.

Reincarnation, by Wallace McRae

What is reincarnation? A cowboy asked his friend.
It starts, his old pal told him, when your life comes to an end.
They wash your neck and comb your hair and clean your fingernails,
And put you in a padded box away from life’s travails.

The box and you goes in a hole that’s been dug in the ground.
Reincarnation starts in when you’re planted neath that mound.
Them clods melt down, just like the box, and you who is inside.
And that’s when you begin your transformation ride.

And in a while the grass will grow upon your rendered mound,
Until some day, upon that spot, a lonely flower is found.
And then a horse may wander by and graze upon that flower
That once was you, and now has become your vegetated bower.

Now, the flower that the horse done eat, along with his other feed,
Makes bone and fat and muscle essential to the steed.
But there’s a part that he can’t use and so it passes through.
And there it lies upon the ground, this thing that once was you.

And if perchance, I should pass by and see this on the ground,
I’ll stop awhile and ponder at this object that I’ve found.
I’ll think about Reincarnation and life and death and such,
And come away concludin’, why, you ain’t changed all that much.

 

[Syele]

That is VERY interesting! Reincarnation cant explain why population is growing.

What is most disturbing to me about reincarnation is that you dont know anything about your past life, thus you didnt “learn your lesson” nor are you aware of your “progress”.

I do believe that most(?) proponents of reincarnation also believe souls are in animals as well as people… so the population growing would then mean that more souls have attained human level than say panda souls.

(not sure how far off base that is)

 

[Champion_Havoc]

I do believe that most(?) proponents of reincarnation also believe souls are in animals as well as people… so the population growing would then mean that more souls have attained human level than say panda souls.

(not sure how far off base that is)

Syele is right. Insects like ants have souls and can get reincarnated as well.
Its not just humans.

 

[thistle]

Syele is right. Insects like ants have souls and can get reincarnated as well.
Its not just humans.

Well they certainly have (mortal) souls but certainly do not get reincarnated. There is no reincarnation for humans, animals, insects, plants or whatever.

 

[bpbasilphx]

The big thing wrong with reincarnation is that it makes the erroneous assumption that our physical bodies are not intrinsic parts of our human nature.

 

[Camron]

Well they certainly have (mortal) souls but certainly do not get reincarnated. There is no reincarnation for humans, animals, insects, plants or whatever.

I think that 1 Corinthians 15 addresses this concept of reincarnation and denounces it as follows…

But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”

How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another…

The Bible seems to be saying that people are not raised as another person or another animal. Each person will be raised with their own glorified body, just as God determined.

 

[Ceil-1]

I believe most of these “past-life experiences” happen under hypnosis. This would mean the subject would be prone to suggestion. I read somewhere that there is an elelment of auto-suggestion going on, if I am using that word correctly.

As a teenager, my mother was fascinated with Edgar Cayce who really jump-started that belief in the 20th century. He became a healer who was only able to heal when in his trance and supposedly stumbled on this system, using it to sometimes explain why people have certain afflictions.

I believe that Edgar Cayce, humble and sincere as he was, inadvertently cooperated with the demonic. The healing and other “good” that came out of it was a false good. I would not be a bit surprised if the embracing of this man and his teachings have at least something to do with the mass apostatsy, error and evil today. He, himself ,remained a Southern Baptist and was horrified by what he said in his trances. I think you should stay away from those pamphlets.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

can demons supply information about someone’s life to someone else? I mean history of someone else life, not current.

 

[Syele]

can demons supply information about someone’s life to someone else? I mean history of someone else life, not current.

I believe they can. I think they can also impersonate people who have died… This what I think many “ghosts” are.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

For a less serious look at reincarnation, try this.

That was HILARIOUS!

I do believe that most(?) proponents of reincarnation also believe souls are in animals as well as people… so the population growing would then mean that more souls have attained human level than say panda souls.

(not sure how far off base that is)

But the fact is the population is growing, and I wouldnt be surprised if the animal population was growing as well. How many billions of ants are there in the world?

 

[Syele]

But the fact is the population is growing, and I wouldnt be surprised if the animal population was growing as well. How many billions of ants are there in the world?

There are over 10,000 known species of ants. Some kinds of ants have 700,000 members in just one colony. But who is to say how many ants there were thousands of years ago? A lot of species of animals have gone extinct too.

To disprove reincarnation based just on numbers of living things would be pretty hard I’d think. You have to know about every species of every creature and how many there were then and how many now. And how do we know there wasn’t some other kind of insect that used to have numbers way larger than ants that since went extinct?

 

[Champion_Havoc]

Like dinosaurs?

 

[Syele]

Like dinosaurs?

ermm no

1. Dinosaurs were not more numerous than ants
2. Dinosaurs are not insects